Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Canada and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Kings Of Tomorrow to the dance kids.
I played it at Trash.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Louis and Bebe Barron. All the underground hits.
All Iggy Pop tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slackers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
David Bowie,
The Cramps,
Flash Fearless,
Guru Guru,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Pretty Things,
the Slits,
The Move,
Rod Modell,
Eve St. Jones,
Altered Images,
Quantec,
Rekid,
Gong,
Monks,
Letta Mbulu,
Lou Reed,
The Grass Roots,
The Monochrome Set,
Junior Murvin,
Bronski Beat,
The Last Poets,
Crash Course in Science,
Nik Kershaw,
Television,
Blake Baxter,
The Buckinghams,
Adolescents,
the Normal,
Mars,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Stooges,
Sonic Youth,
Electric Prunes,
Aaron Thompson,
Delta 5,
OOIOO,
The Moleskins,
T. Rex,
Roxette,
The Zeros,
The Vogues,
Stiv Bators,
Television Personalities,
Mo-Dettes,
Lee Hazlewood,
Depeche Mode,
Soul Sonic Force,
Pylon,
Alphaville,
Technova,
Howard Jones,
The Gap Band,
Marvin Gaye,
Anthony Braxton,
Yaz,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Blackbyrds,
Thompson Twins,
Black Flag,
The Sound, The Sound, The Sound, The Sound.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.